


Precinct 3

by Rtarara



Series: Thursday Nights [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, call girl Kara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-02 18:54:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8679439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rtarara/pseuds/Rtarara
Summary: Kara gets into a bit of legal trouble and misses her standing appointment with Cat. Sequel to Thursday at 8pm.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Fictorium for the fixing of my many mistakes. Thank you to spaceshipsarecool for doing the mop up and to the Sin Bin for all of the encouragement, always. I would not do this stuff if not for you :)

Kara sat on the bench at the police precinct with her head tilted back, leaning against the cold concrete. She thought for a moment of how easy it would be to break through the wall and out to freedom. It would take the slightest amount of effort, but they had footage of her. There were cameras on her even now. She would be on the news as some sort of superpowered threat if she tried to escape justice. 

 

She wasn’t alone in lock up. There was a drunk woman snoring as she slept on the bench across from her as well as another woman in for the same charge she was pacing back and forth at the front of the cell and yelling about her babies. Kara felt like doing the same. She used her only phone call to tell her sitter not to expect her back, and to send Clark off to school and pick him up. She hoped that this one wouldn’t let her down. It was hard to find reliable care that didn’t ask too many questions. 

 

Sighing, Kara relaxed her posture. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t been careful to some degree, but necessity was the driving force in her life. She did what she had to everyday to make sure that Clark had what he needed. It was the last promise that she made to her dying mother and if she broke that then she wouldn’t have anything left of Kara Zor-El.  

 

Besides, it wasn’t as though she set out to have sex for money. Sex was considered almost sacred on Krypton. It was something that you shared with your spouse and the casual sex and brothels of Daxam were spoken of with the utmost disdain. 

 

The first time it happened had been a fluke. She had been at a party that she agreed to attend mostly for the free food as there was never quite money to buy enough for both her AND Clark so she went without more often than not. A man made an offer when she turned down his advances and all she could see was an armful of groceries and a real birthday present for Clark. Her mouth said yes before she had the chance to think much about it. 

 

It was surreal, and she didn’t remember a lot of what happened except for crying afterwards when the man went to shower. She took the money and was gone before he got out. The problem was, it had been good to have enough to eat for a bit. Seeing Clark riding up and down the street on his new bike with the other boys made her feel like she’d finally done something right as a caregiver. So that one time turned into once every couple of months and then it was once a month and then it became a regular thing.

 

That finally changed when she met Cat. Kara had regulars before that, but they never worked out for very long. She’d been seeing Cat for over a year now, every week like clockwork; it was almost always enough to get by. If she needed more, Kara could ask Cat if she wanted more time. Cat always did. It was wonderful and terrible in equal measure. 

 

Cat Grant was beautiful, intelligent and even funny in an acerbic sort of way. The first few meetings had gone like they always had in the past. Kara had put on her most docile fun girl Linda persona, laughing at Cat’s jokes and made small talk. That wasn’t enough for Cat: she pushed. 

 

Kara, or Linda rather, should have thoughts on people and events. For a gossip columnist, Cat was incredibly well informed and Kara found herself dropping the facade a bit and saying how she actually felt on different topics. Cat listened, fired back, and never once made Kara feel like she was anything less than. 

 

It was strange since she didn’t use her real name, but Kara felt the most like herself when she went to see Cat. Cat was sad too, just below the surface the same way she was. The sex didn’t feel quite so dirty with Cat. It made Cat feel better and Kara liked being the person that took her pain away for a little bit. Sometimes Kara would even let Cat return the favor. 

 

Kara didn’t usually enjoy her time in bed with her clients. Some of the parts before the act could be alright and even pleasant, but that part she just wanted to get done with as quickly as possible. She told herself that if she didn’t enjoy it, then it didn’t really count. 

 

It wasn’t a new thing, it was the thing she told herself after Billy Henderson broke up with her about a week after she slept with him for the first time. He was about ten years older than Kara and met her in the park with Clark. He was good with Clark and showed him how baseball worked. Kara had thought that was it—a family for Clark and a way out for her. Instead, it was an elaborate ruse to get her into bed. She didn’t date after that. 

 

With Cat, though, Kara enjoyed every moment. She tried not to at first so she wouldn’t break her rule, but there was no denying it. As hard as she tried to keep a wall up, she wanted Cat’s hands on her. Once Cat even used her mouth and that was something else entirely. 

 

It wasn’t like Kara was going to get married anyways. Even though Cat, more than anyone else, might be understanding about the choices Kara had made, this wasn’t something a person just overlooked. 

 

Cat was so understanding. Kara saw the way that Cat looked at her. It was more than simple affection. If Kara were human, Cat would give her that Pretty Woman moment complete with umbrella fire escape climb if she asked it. It sat in a silent place between them where Kara would offer more of herself for more money and Cat would always pay. Kara didn’t dare tell her the truth: that she wasn’t simply a human girl down on her luck. So Kara only let herself come close to what she really wanted when she was desperate for the money, because getting that close and having to run away was almost more than she could bear.  

 

Tonight she was supposed to be with Cat giving her anything she wanted for a tidy sum, but one quick side job turned into this. Kara had known they were offering too much for too little, but she was just a tiny bit short. She almost had enough to fix things again.  

 

Clark was doing so well in his new school, but a few bullies teasing him about his no name clothes set him off, just as his laser vision decided to come in. He was at the library and torched a few bookshelves. The school was understanding almost, because they took the fire as an ill conceived escape plan from the taunting. Still. They’d only given her one week to pay the cost of the damages. She should have just asked Cat for a little more than they’d agreed to earlier in the week. Cat would have paid, but she knew that Cat couldn’t really afford that on a reporter’s salary, and it was too much to ask. 

 

Humans have little tells when they’re lying. It was usually easy to spot cops and play the escort, something still on the right side of the law. This officer had no tells at all. His heart rate stayed exactly the same. Maybe that was another kind of tell. He was particularly cruel in getting her undressed before the handcuffs came out. At first she thought it was a sex thing and she was just going to ask for a bit more money, but it was a real arrest. They had surveillance footage of her from earlier in the week. One of her johns had turned her in to get a better plea deal after getting busted in a sting. 

 

Even so, she could have run, but they could connect her to Clark. She didn’t want too many questions about him. His documents, unlike hers, were real. Clark was young enough that all she had to do was go and register his birth—say it happened at home. The clerk took pity on her as a teen mom and walked her through it. He was a little hard of hearing so El became Ellis and Kal became Clark, but it was better that way. According to the people of Earth, she had Clark impossibly young and people pitied and derided her for it. Clark, on the other hand, was doing the best he could with his stupid teen mom. She wanted him to go to college and get a real career. He wouldn’t have to scrimp to get by. 

 

That led her to this moment. She watched as light came into the room with the sounds of the city waking up in the background. She hoped that her documents would hold up well enough that she could maybe get off on probation, but she doubted it. One call to the social security office and they’d know she wasn’t legal. If she made it out, she would cut back to only seeing Cat—if Cat even wanted to see her again after standing her up tonight. 

 

The woman who was pacing the holding cell sat down and Kara took her spot walking in front of the grey bars. She didn’t try and listen to the cops on duty. Earlier they’d just been congratulating the guy who brought her in. Apparently he hit a particularly high number of such arrests. Kara’s nightmare was a source of laughter as Detective Bryce regaled them of how stupid she’d been. How easy it was to take her in. How she hadn’t even tried to fight him. 

 

She could have killed him. Maybe she should have and disposed of the body where it could never be found. They always say no body, no crime on this world. What’s one more betrayal of her mother’s values when she’d already slipped so far? It had been so long since she’d been an upstanding citizen of Krypton who wouldn’t lie or steal or sell her body. What part of the good person she used to be was she even trying so hard to hang on to? 

 

The dark thoughts she knew she could never actually enact were interrupted by a thin male officer, “Ellis. I don’t know who you fucked or what you know, but you’re being released.” 

 

Kara blinked and stood up. It was a miracle and she felt like something terrible was about to happen as she walked out of the cell with her darker skinned counterpart starring daggers at her. It wasn’t fair, but she wasn’t about to give up her chance to get home. She had to find a new school for Clark and find a way to tell him that he wouldn’t be going back to the first school where he actually sort of fit in. 

 

The officer led her past a scowling Detective Bryce as she went to a window to wait on her personal effects. She wanted to get out of there fast. There had to be a mistake. No one she’d slept with had been any sort of police commissioner or important councilmember or the mayor or anything like that. She tried to keep a low profile. 

 

Her jewelry and purse were handed back and she was escorted out to a public waiting area...where Cat Grant was standing. Kara’s heart leapt in her chest. Cat had come for her. No one had ever done something like that before. It didn’t seem like Cat was very happy about it, however. Cat’s body was tense and radiated anger. Kara walked towards her and started to reach out, “Cat…”

 

“Not here.” Cat grabbed her by the arm and led her out the station and into Cat’s sedan. Cat opened the door for her before going around to the other side. As they started to drive Cat spoke again, “What were you thinking?! The DA is on a clean the streets campaign and you could have been sent to jail for years, Kara! YEARS!”

 

“I needed the money for—” Kara started before Cat cut her off. Cat had used Kara’s real name. It hit her like a punch would have hit someone human. She thought she had caught Cat listening in on her phone call with Clark awhile back. The worlds Kara fought to keep separate were fusing together. 

 

“You needed to talk to me and not try and get a few more dollars by making vague promises about me doing whatever I want.” Cat pulled over a few blocks from the station into a deserted backlot and smacked the steering wheel. “You know I would have given you the money for Clark.”

 

Kara set her jaw at that. She had never mentioned Clark by name to Cat and she hadn’t said it on the call. “You aren’t supposed to know about Clark.” It was an invasion of privacy and worse, it was much too close to being something real. 

 

“Well, I do. It’s hard not to know about someone when they call your house asking after your ‘girlfriend’,” she used air quotes on the word girlfriend, “because they need things for school and are disconcerted that their mother isn’t home.” 

 

“I…” Kara didn’t know what to say. “That wasn’t something I expected to happen. I didn’t give him your number.” 

 

Cat slumped, “I know you didn’t. He used star 69 when you called him from my place. It was some great mystery to him and he pieced things together.” Cat gave a half grin. “He wasn’t quite right, but he’d make a good reporter one day. It seemed high up on his list in any case.” She shook her head. “I can see why he thought it, though. You came home smelling like my perfume, apparently. He was very modern and accepting about it. I obviously didn’t let on that I wasn’t what he thought I was. It...seemed the lesser evil and he was happy that you had someone.”

 

“I...thank you.” She put her head in her hands.  “His school taught him about homosexual relationships. It’s really progressive.” Not that he would be there much longer.

 

“He mentioned that.” Cat nodded. 

 

“You got a lot out of one phone call.” Kara stayed bent over. 

 

“I drove him to school. He didn’t have lunch money and apparently it was some event today with pizza, so I went over to bring him the money, but he missed his bus.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t such a big deal, but an official asked me once he’d gotten to the doors whether or not he knew it was his last day. I swear he heard because he turned back and stared, but it wouldn’t have been possible. I don’t know.” 

 

Kara started crying softly. It was all crashing down on her. She didn’t make the deadline. She failed to keep Kal in a school where he would be safe. She almost got him sent to foster care. 

 

“Hey…” Cat sighed and some of the anger slipped from her voice. “It’s alright. Your son introduced me as your partner and they let me pay what was owed.”

 

Kara turned, pulling her hands away from her face. “S’too much. You shouldn’t have to...I can’t…” She sniffed. She didn’t understand why Cat was treating her like this. She knew Cat liked the idea of her and cared for her, but this was more and it hurt. 

 

“I  _ can _ , Kara.” She stilled the hand on Kara’s back. “Do you not understand that I’d much rather pay for a school to have books than for you to get arrested? I didn’t know if I’d be able to get you off. I bluffed the police commissioner and I can’t even investigate any of the insinuations because now he suspects my secret too.” 

 

“I’m sorry.” Kara looked over at Cat with glistening eyes. 

 

“Are you?” Kara pulled her hand away. Cat let out a long breath and rubbed her eyes. “I’m terrified all the time of someone hurting you or of you being arrested and me not being able to save you. Now I’m even afraid for Clark because I think he might be the most polite young man I’ve ever met and it’s clear that he thinks the world of you.” She was quiet for a moment. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” 

 

Kara listened as Cat ranted with pain coloring her voice. She knew Cat cared about her on some level, but she wasn’t used to hearing that she mattered to someone who wasn’t Clark. 

 

“I’ll be okay, Cat.” She tried to reassure the other woman but it was hard with the wobble in her voice. 

 

Cat gripped the steering wheel and looked out the front windshield, “You can’t say that for sure. I know the relationship that we have is transactional. I can convince myself at times - when you’re laughing or smiling - that you actually want to be there. But I know that’s not really the truth. I’m an idiot, but I’m not delusional. I know you barely let me touch you and charge more for it when I do. I know you only stay over when you need the extra money. I KNOW the way I feel about you is entirely one sided, but why won’t you just take advantage of it? I’d rather that than something like this happening to you again.” 

 

“Cat…” Her voice broke. “That isn’t...Please don’t think…” She reached out and put her hand on Cat’s knee, but Cat didn’t look towards her and Kara pulled her hand back. “You’re right. I take your money in exchange for spending time in your bed. When you touch me, it hurts and when I stay over sometimes I want to die in the morning. But it’s not because this is one sided. It’s because when I’m around you, it’s hard to breathe.” 

 

Cat turned her head to look at Kara, confusion written across her features as Kara kept speaking. “I want to curl up in your arms and never ever leave. I don’t let you kiss me because I don’t think I could stop if you did. I love the way you make me laugh, the way you challenge me and the way you make me feel like I’m more than what I am for a couple of hours a week.” 

 

Kara reached out to touch Cat’s face before thinking better of it and pulling away. It would be too much to touch her now. She needed to stop talking, but she couldn’t let Cat think she wasn’t enough. “I don’t pull away because I don’t want you. I pull away because if you understood who I am...what I am...you’d leave me alone. I can’t lose anyone else. I keep the boundaries up and I get every Thursday—one good night every week. I need that— _ you _ —more than I can ever say.” She watched as Cat blinked a few times, taking in what she’d said. It was more than she’d meant to, but she was tired someplace deeper than just her body and she couldn’t lie anymore. 

 

“Kara.” Cat’s voice broke slightly as she said Kara’s name. 

 

“I won’t see anyone else.” Kara interjected, trying to get control of the conversation back. She wouldn’t be able to resist Cat if she pushed and that was too dangerous. She had fallen in love with Cat and couldn’t deny it any longer—not after Cat came for her and saved her. “I hadn’t before this week since the second month or so. It’s just you. I should have come to you and explained. I—” 

 

Cat cut her off, “Kara.” She said it more forcefully this time. Cat leaned forward and cupped her face, brushing the pad of her thumb over Kara’s cheekbones before moving in closer. 

 

“Please.” Kara whispered as she leaned into the touch. Part of her wanted this more than anything and part of her needed it to not go any further. She wasn’t sure if she was begging Cat to kiss her or to stop. 

 

Cat kissed the corner of her mouth speaking softly as her breath puffed against Kara’s face, “I drink too much. I work between 60 and 80 hours a week so I can accomplish...enough…be  _ good _ enough. I...have a son whose father took him and moved across the country because I was a shitty mother who worked all the time. No one stays.”  She pulled back just enough to look into Kara’s eyes. “You make that all fall away. I can’t say I’m easy, and once a week is probably all most people can handle, but I can’t stop wanting you. Every day.” 

 

Kara let tears fall down her face. She could see the fear in Cat’s eyes as they watched her for a response. Kara’s eyes flickered to Cat’s lips and she leaned forward, capturing them. Cat didn't waste any time in molding her lips against Kara’s. It wasn’t like fireworks and nothing exploded at all. It felt like crawling into her heated bed in Argo City at night in the cold season and feeling safe, warmed, and loved. Years fell away and she wasn’t a whore or a failure. She was whole. 

 

Cat pulled away first, breathing fast. “Does this mean…?” She trailed off, a slight tremble in her voice.

 

Kara searched Cat’s face. Cat was as terrified as she was. She didn’t have much hope left as much as she tried and she had even less faith. The deck was stacked against them and if it didn’t work, then she didn’t know how much of herself would even be left. She took a breath to tell Cat that this one kiss was all she could give her, but the words wouldn’t come out. Kara wanted this too much to keep herself safe. She searched Cat’s face again and found something else. Cat was looking at her the way Kal’s father would look at his mother. Love. Her head dipped forward in a small nod. Maybe if they both loved each other, it could be enough. 

 

“Is that a yes?” Cat couldn’t keep the hope out of her voice this time. 

 

Kara nodded again, more clearly this time. She didn’t have words, but she’d said enough as Cat unfastened her seatbelt and launched herself at Kara. Slender arms curved around her as Cat pulled her into a tight embrace. She felt Cat beginning to sob with her face buried into Kara’s neck. She had never seen Cat cry like this before and certainly not over her. 

 

Kara brought her hand to Cat’s back and held her close. This was almost certainly the worst mistake she’d made yet, but she felt like a person again. It felt right. Maybe she could even  _ be _ a real person again...at least for a little while. Cat mumbled something against the skin of her throat and Kara turned to kiss Cat’s head. 

 

“I love you too, Cat.” Kara whispered back. A tendril of hope settled itself in her chest, settling in an unfamiliar way in her ribs. Maybe she had found a home again. 

  
  



End file.
